Account Books, Diaries & Logs

The society has about seventeen feet of account books. They are arranged roughly by geographic area, family, or purpose, such as store goods or schools. The earliest dates from the 1750s and the latest to the 1970s. Account books are the only items that the society has purchased; we bought from dealers the Levi Reed shipbuilding, the Joseph McCobb store, the John M. McFarland store, and the William McCobb blacksmith account books.

The largest collections are the:

1) Elizabeth Reed extended family account books, including diaries, logs, and a couple of account books of her Reed and Blair families, in boxes 5, 6, 32, 39, 40, 41. The collection principally covers the second half of the 1800s.

2) Frank Rice shipyard collection, given and loaned by Frank’s daughter Gwen Rice Gordon in boxes 22 to 27, and oversize books standing with the boxes. It principally covers the 1910s to the 1930s, some extending to the 1970s.

3) Billy Sawyer chandlery/wrecking business books given by Ed Baker, in boxes 34 to 37. Covers 1870 to 1922.

Aside from the store account books which provide insight into daily life, the account books tend to heavily reflect the local shipyards. Significant Boothbay account books located elsewhere are: the Paul G. Pinkham (vessel rigger) books at Maine Historical Society; and the Reuben Jones (sailmaker) book and the James Oliver Seavey (sparmaker) books at Maine Maritime Museum.

Please note: The information in the links below represents a portion of our holdings. Some items may have been moved to new boxes as collections grow or merge.

Calvin Perkins account books, Edgecomb, ME, four books altogether: 1831-1835, 1835-1838, 1840-1860 (and school notebook including financial practices), 1846-1851. Calvin Perkins lived, according to the 1857 map, about two miles up the River Road from the Boothbay line.

A. E. Perkins cash book, 1906-1926. Gift of Mrs.Thomas Hoag.

Captain’s account book, 1841-1858, probably Eleazer Giles, Most of his vessels were brigs or barques; some local accounts also, and selectmen’s accounts. Gift of Mrs. Thomas Hoag. Eleazer Giles lived in the second big house in on Walker Rd, as did Andrew Perkins. The house descended to Mrs. Hoag (d. 1991 or 1992)
Box #2: SOUTHPORT

1822-1823 fish book of Emerson McKown (06-4-26) from Chester Swett

Schooner Cameron, 1851-1866, account book, loan Am. Legion.

Mark Rand account book #456, 1845-1879.

Mark Rand revenue cutter record book, April 1843-March 1844; with comments on voyage to Bangor.

14. Letter to Frank Alley from Robert Alley, June 20, 1929, at Fort Preble.

15. Christmas card Dec. 1929 from John Poore to Frank Alley.

15. Letter to Frank W. Alley from son Robert E. Alley at Fort Preble in So. Portland. Letterhead of Eighth Coast Artillery. Undated, typed. Describes his daily life at Fort – trip to Bath, postmarked March 19 – no year.

17. Letter to Frank Alley from son Robert in S. Portland at Fort Preble with 8th Coast Artillery, a Private First Class, studying engines. Expects to visit soon. Envelope date is May 13, 1930. Wants the visit to be a surprise to others.

18. Letter to Frank Alley from son Robert at Fort Preble, Aug. 4, 1030. Needs to borrow $5 until pay day Aug. 31.

Caretaker Material

1. Short note from B. K. Stephenson to Frank Alley about arrival and changes to be finished. No date.

2. Letter from George E. Macomber to Frank Alley, May 23, 1930, letting him know there is no likelihood of his buying the Bowditch property formerly owned by J.W. Harlow.

7. 2 paper scraps, one with address of O.C. Elwell, Portland and one about a telegram message (unsigned).

8. Small printed Christmas message from “Lucy” to?

9. Paid receipt to F. Alley from Rines Bros. Portland 8/25/25.

10. Newspaper ad for 3 tube radio, postcard ad for Palmolive soap.

11.Address for F.W. Blair, Lexington Ave., NYC

12. 2 scraps of paper, one for C.T. Hodgdon purchases.

13. Unused envelope for National Cloak & Suit Co.

14. Address card for Wm. Jackson in NYC

15. Small notebook of F.W. Alley of account of Charles Poor with Alley’s grocery, 1909.

Also 99-3-18: items from the store donated by Robert Holbrook; can labels, etc.

Deed of Frank Alley to Cyrus Tupper, 1910, lot and old school house. 330:230

Miriam McKown Collection Coll.# 96-3-36

Bayville post office 1930 money order register, 97-3-27.

Shackleton 1948 greenhouse calendar.

Two income tax returns, one for 1942, one for 1943. Form of computation of estimated income and Victory Tax for 1943. Two statements of income taxes withheld from George Smith wages at Goudy & Stevens in calendar year 1943. Bill from Hodgdon Bros. to George Smith, May 27, 1943. Penciled list of tools with prices. All items are in Treas. Dept. envelope.

Envelope containing a certificate from B. Frank Scholl, M.D. A blank for filling out symptoms of children’s illnesses. Small printed message by Church & Co. for treatment of colds. Booklet of instructions for guidance of subscribers to Library of Health. Two blanks for symptoms, one for women, one for men from B. Frank Scholl M.D.

Postcard to Mr. and Mrs. George Smith in Portland from George and Naomi. Picture is black and while sketch of a cove by Gene Klebe.

Letter to Mrs. George M. Smith, March 6, 1930, from V. Swett in Portland inquiring about purchasing a model of a lobster trap. Written reply is on the back of the letter. Incomplete model of the trap accompanies the trap.

Wedding announcement sent to Mr. and Mrs. George Smith, East Boothbay, and forwarded to Oakview Apts. Portland. Marriage is of Jayne Cordiner to Eugene Girdwood, Dec. 28, 1950.

Christmas greetings, invitation to organ music, 1954 pocket calendar from National Bank of Commerce, Portland, Me. to Mr. and Mrs. George M. Smith.

Letter from Harold Clifford, Supt. of Schools, Jan. 3, 1951, to George Smith “somewhere in Portland,” asking if he will sell to the town “your lot and buildings adjacent to the school grounds.” Enclosed is a return envelope to Supt. of Schools, Boothbay Harbor, Me.

Letter to George Smith from First Methodist Church, Boothbay Harbor, July 10, 1951. Typed from Bldg. Fund Committee, Delmont Tilton, Treas. Rev. Forrest Towle is minister. Tell of total destruction of their church the previous winter. Describes plans to rebuild and is requesting a donation.

Letter to George M. Smith from Dr. Edward M. Cook Jr., resident in medicine at Maine General Hospital, Portland, 11/9/1949, an autopsy report on G. Smith’s uncle William Smith.

Letter from P.M. Olin Kennebec Green houses, July 5, 1927, to George Smith inquiring about a shipment of sweet peas.

Letter to Mr. and Mrs. George Smith in East Boothbay from the Norton family in Yuma, Ariz, posted 12/13/1944. A Christmas time letter of family activities to old friends.

Letter from William Cameron on Monhegan Island to George Smith asking for his help in identifying the owner or owners of property at foot of Hornes (?) Hill – presumably on Monhegan, dated 7/28/1946.

Letter dated March 13, 1929 from B. W. Hess for the mgr. of National Mutual Church Insurance Co. of Chicago, Ill. to Treasurer George M. Smith of Trustees, Methodist Episcopal Church in East Boothbay. Subject was the terms of insurance for the church.

In church file for Linekin Church, E. Boothbay, paid receipts (3) from Central Maine Power. One paid bill from Latter’s Seashore Greenhouse in Boothbay Harbor, Oct. 29, 1929, to Linekin church. Bill from Alfred Dodge, contractor and builder, March 29, 1929 to Linekin Church for building and painting church steps. Paid by Mrs. George Smith. Two papers of record of Sunday School collections for 1928 and 1929. Signed by Hattie Holbrook. Receipted Central Maine Power Col. bills for George Smith.

W. E. (Billy) Sawyer ran a hardware & supply store near where Tugboat Inn is now. The building is now a ???. He also had an iceworks on the east side of Southport. The pond is now the town reservoir. The icehouse which was at Pine Cliff burned in ???? Mainly his ice was sold to fishermen rather than being shipped out. He was a wrecking commissioner who acquired old vessels for the purpose of stripping them of their saleable parts for scrap. After stripping them in the Harbor near his business, he towed them to Elwell’s Cove in Mill Cove where he would burn them to extract the metal. One such vessel was the Gold Hunter, pictured in the Fuller 1927 movie. One of Sawyer’s buildings near Tugboat was dismantled and rebuilt at Barters Is. by Chet Rittall.

The Mary Weaver sailed into Mill Cove under her own power but was leaking badly. The idea, according to Carroll Gray, was to sink her in the mud so the mud would work its way into her seams & caulk her. Whatever the plans for her had been, they didn’t work. She was one which Billy Sawyer acquired & stripped. She was an attraction in the Cove and all were sorry when a WPA project had her taken apart. Elbridge Giles was in charge and he spent all one winter lugging her in pieces to his house.

The ledgers were given to Cecil Pierce for the Historical Society by Ed Baker whose uncle had bought the Sawyer place & found them there.

W.E. Sawyer ledger, 1870-1902 #BS1

Sales to individuals and vessels; sales to East Boothbay pogie factories.

Photos tied in string (06-9-102) of Miss Reed and Miss Irving of East Boothbay, taken in the 1940s and 1950s. Boothbay and elsewhere
Box #73: PHOTO COLLECTIONS, Boothbay Harbor

Bess Reed’s photo collection in albums and single images. It’s listed in Views as BH000. Many photos were removed from this collection and placed in the Views file. A list of what remains in this box is in the front of drawer 12, in a file entitled APHOT3.